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Enlarge ImageRequest to buy this photoNational Park ServiceIn this 2013 photo, Brian Ertel, a fisheries biologist at Yellowstone National Park, holds an invasive lake trout of the type scientists are trying to eradicate from Yellowstone Lake.

By Matthew BrownASSOCIATED PRESS • Thursday May 8, 2014 6:43 AM

BILLINGS, Mont. — A voracious species of trout that decimated a native trout population in
Yellowstone National Park shows signs of decline following a costly and protracted effort to kill
off the invading fish, government scientists and a conservation group said yesterday.

Non-native lake trout were discovered in Yellowstone Lake in 1994 after being illegally
introduced to the 132-square-mile body of water that attracts visitors from throughout the
world.

Crews have since netted and removed about 1.4 million of the fish in hopes that cutthroat trout
populations can rebound. Adult lake trout in Yellowstone can top 30 pounds, living almost
exclusively on a diet of cutthroat trout, researchers say.

The netting costs about

$2 million annually, drawing criticism that too much money is being spent to kill off a species
that’s highly prized by anglers elsewhere.

Backers of the removal effort insist it’s worth the cost. Yellowstone cutthroat trout are
considered a key-

stone animal in the country’s first national park, providing food for 42 birds and mammals,
including grizzly bears, osprey and bald eagles.

Before the first lake trout were found, the native trout supported a recreational fishery valued
at $30 million annually in the early 1990s.

Whether that fishing economy can fully rebound is uncertain.

After years of scant improvement, the netting efforts finally have begun to show progress,
according to scientists from the park and the conservation group Trout Unlimited.

The population of the invasive trout is beginning to decline, a recent analysis by researchers
from Montana State University indicated. Meanwhile, the numbers of young cutthroat trout are
increasing, suggesting a possible rebound by the smaller fish.

“I’m very encouraged by some of our recent successes,” said David Hallac, chief of the park’s
science center. “The goal is to crash the population of lake trout to a point where they are no
longer adversely impacting Yellowstone cutthroat trout.”

It’s unlikely that lake trout will be wiped out entirely, meaning some level of management will
be required to keep them from again crowding out native fish, said Jack Williams, senior scientist
for Trout Unlimited.